Atomic RoadRunners

Chipper Jones hit a two-run homer and walked Friday against the Pirates. Chipper hasn’t made it through the spring without getting hurt since 2006. Still, he’s chosen to participate in the World Baseball Classic. With David Wright also on the roster, he could do a lot of DHing. (Rotoworld)

Giants SP Tim Lincecum, who went 18-5 last season and led the majors with 265 strikeouts, was pleased with his first spring outing Wednesday at the Indians. He allowed one hit and recorded one strikeout in one inning of work. With Randy Johnson joining the Giants’ staff and Barry Zito already in the rotation, San Francisco has three Cy Young winners. Lincecum said he has already learned under Johnson, who said he didn’t feel he had a great season until he won his fifth Cy Young. “He wants to get better and he showed that,” Lincecum said. “I always want to get better. I’m not just sitting on my butt, hoping everything would be all right. I’m going to do my work and get better, that’s what it takes to be a great player.” Lincecum led the league in strikeouts last year with 265 and defied his 5-foot-11 frame with overpowering stuff. His short stature and 227 innings pitched last year create some cause for concern, but he hasn’t shown any signs of breaking down yet. Consider him a top three Fantasy SP on Draft Day, ranking right alongside CC Sabathia and Johan Santana. (CBS Sports)

Mat Gamel is still not close to being ready for game action due to the impingement in his right shoulder. Gamel is missing out on a significant opportunity to play with Bill Hall still sidelined due to a partially torn calf. There’s no official word on when Gamel might be ready to play, but he will be leaving the team for a few days this weekend, as his wife is expected to give birth. (Rotoworld)

Three-time All-Star second baseman Orlando Hudson and the Dodgers reached agreement on a one-year contract Friday, giving Los Angeles a replacement for the retired Jeff Kent. The deal was contingent on Hudson passing a physical, a person familiar with the negotiations told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity because the Dodgers have not confirmed the contract. The Dodgers opened camp with 23-year-old Blake DeWitt, who took over when Kent went down to injury in September, at second base. DeWitt can also play third while Hudson, could combine with shortstop Rafael Furcal to give the Dodgers one of the top defensive middle infields in the majors. However, Casey Blake is still under contract with the Dodgers, so DeWitt could now be out of a starting job if Hudson passes his physical. DeWitt hit .264 with nine home runs in 368 at-bats as a rookie last season. He gets on base and has above-average power, but without everyday at-bats, he might start the season as a NL-only Fantasy option. Stay tuned . . .

The L.A. Daily News reports that Dodgers SS Blake DeWitt will get some work at shortstop this spring once Orlando Hudson is ready to take over at second base. DeWitt, who hit .264 with nine home runs in 368 at-bats as a rookie last season, could do with having another position on his resume if he wants to stick around in the majors in 2009. He gets on base and has above-average power, but without everyday at-bats, he might start the season as a NL-only Fantasy option. Stay tuned. While the Dodgers could use a true backup shortstop to pair with Mark Loretta as an infield reserve, DeWitt, who is stretched at second, clearly isn’t the answer. He likely will find himself in the minors on Opening Day. (CBS Sports, Rotoworld)

Manager Dusty Baker said Thursday that Brandon Phillips will hit cleanup for the Reds. Phillips is far from a prototypical cleanup hitter, but has homered 51 times over the past two seasons and Baker surely doesn’t care about his sub par on-base percentage. (Rotoworld)

Cubs manager Lou Piniella hopes to give Theriot more days off this season, MLB.com reports. “Theriot plays with a lot of energy,” Piniella said. “If we can get him a little more of a breather, I think that will help him.” This sounds much like spring training wishful thinking more than anything. While he may not reach the 580 ABs he saw last season, expect Theriot to be over the 500 mark by the time October rolls around. (Rotowire)

Mat Gamel has been sidelined during spring training due to shoulder pain, according to the team web site. Gamel ended last season early due to an elbow issue and it looks like he’ll start this season with an injury. It’s doubtful that he’ll make the team out of spring training, but hopefully he’ll be healthy enough to start at Triple-A Nashville. (Rotowire)

Update: Gamel isn’t being allowed to throw because of an impingement in his right shoulder. It has to be especially disappointing for Gamel with Bill Hall’s injury opening the door for him to see significant time at third base in games this spring. It sounds like he won’t be playing the position for at least a week or two. (Rotoworld)

Mike Gonzalez feels 22 again. He’s lost a few pounds. His left arm is strong and limber. And there’s not a lick of pain to mess things up. It’s time to show the Braves what they thought they were getting two years ago: one of baseball’s most dominant relievers. “Man, it’s been a few years since I felt the way I do now,” he said Monday, having just arrived at his locker for the second workout of spring training. “I feel crispy. I lost 10 or 12 pounds. I feel really good. I feel agile.” Gonzalez returned from Tommy John surgery last season and assumed the closer role, but he struggled at times in working his way back, posting a 4.28 ERA. “I don’t think Atlanta has gotten to see the full Gonzo yet,” outfielder Jeff Francoeur said. “Even though he came back last year and was doing good, he was not the full Gonzo.”

Now, there’s no excuses. Gonzalez, 30, had a full year to recover from the surgery. He pitched 36 games last season, more than enough to work through any lingering issues. He had the whole offseason to get in the best shape of his career. “I always felt the only issue for me was my health,” he said. “I’m 100 percent now. I don’t see any reason I’m not going to go out there and dominate.” In 2006, Gonzalez converted all 24 of his save chances in a breakout season for the lowly Pirates, with 64 strikeouts in 54 innings. He should return to that form this season. Consider him an excellent middle-to-late-round sleeper for saves pitching for an expected contender in Atlanta.

RazzBall is continuing their stroll through the majors by asking five key questions to a team-specific blog. Here’s the Dodgers focus by a blog called “Mike Scioscia’s Tragic Illness.”

Q: I called Blake DeWitt a 2009 fantasy sleeper. Am I right as Chocolate Rain or drunk? And why?

A: Blake DeWitt has to be one of the most unpredictable players in baseball right now. His line from last year may not say much, but just look at how his 2008 unfolded. Though he was a former first round pick, he was coming off some uninspiring minor league seasons in A and AA and was somewhere around the 7th option at third base – even falling behind “screw it, let’s just fix our outfield logjam by playing all four and forgetting the hot corner” and “hey, why don’t we play our All-Star catcher there?” Most predicted that he’d flop miserably, yet he came up and was great for two months, even to the point where I noted in May that he was a top-5 MLB 3B. Then he started to fail so badly for two months that by July I was calling for him to be demoted (he eventually was), only to return as the everyday 2B in September and the playoffs, and with a much more productive bat than he’d left with.

My point is, I have absolutely no idea what to expect from Blake DeWitt in 2009. He could hit .320 with 20 homers; he could hit .220 and be back in the minors by May; he could be caught speeding down the Pacific Coast Highway with 3 Guatemalan hookers and the corpse of Ricardo Montalbon in his trunk. Nothing would surprise me from him.

According to Andrew Baggarly of the San Jose Mercury News, Tim Lincecum’s agent is at the Giants’ camp and has already had preliminary discussions about a long-term deal for his client. Lincecum is likely to be a Super Two player, meaning he’ll be arbitration-eligible four times instead of the standard three. Cole Hamels’ deal could be a model.

Even though Lincecum’s value would go through the roof if he can duplicate his Cy Young season — my guess is he’d command as much as $10 million as a first-year arb guy — Thurman reiterated that he’s definitely interested in negotiating a multiyear contract.

“There’s no doubt a player would like to have an appropriate long-term deal in place,” Thurman said. “In this case it’s a little different because … he’s hard to compare to anybody, really. You have to forecast what the player will do over the next three to six years and look at the salaries that would be appropriate on an annual basis.”

Evans told Thurman he wanted to “look at the landscape” before getting back to him. That might present few clues, though, since Lincecum already owns out-of-this-world accomplishments in relatively little service time.

As for Lincecum’s state of mind, Thurman said, “He’s just interested in playing baseball.”

The Dodgers and Orlando Hudson’s agent have continued to have discussions, GM Ned Colletti confirmed. The Dodgers are willing to go with Blake DeWitt as their primary second baseman, but with Hudson potentially having to settle for a rather inexpensive one-year deal, they’d be crazy not to take a serious look at him. (Rotoworld)

Mat Gamel may have received a lucky break, or more accurately a lucky tear. Incumbent Brewers 3B Bill Hall was injured in workouts yesterday, and tore his left calf muscle. The initial prognosis is a 4-6 week absence.

From RotoProfessor:

With the news breaking yesterday of Bill Hall suffering an injury to his calf (”a partial tear of his left calf muscle” according to mlb.com), the door appears to be slightly ajar for Mat Gamel to open the season as the Brewers 3B.

It was just two years ago that Ryan Braun put on a show in Spring Training, ultimately being recalled in May to man the hot corner.  Obviously circumstances are different, but could Gamel follow in his footsteps?

While there was concerns about Braun’s defense, they were nothing compared to Gamel, who has committed 119 errors over the past three seasons (53 of which came in 2007).

They have other options available to them, including Mike Lamb and Craig Counsell, but neither of them will be able to match what Gamel brings with the bat.  He hit .325 last season, mostly at Double A, with 20 HR, 99 RBI and 99 R.  Those numbers don’t tell the entire story of the monster campaign he was actually enjoying.

Yes, it is safe to say that his .392 BABIP just is not going to translate to the major league level.  He doesn’t have the speed for that type of success (6 SB in 13 attempts last season).  Only nine batters in the major leagues posted a BABIP above .350 last season, so things are not promising there.  He also struck out 21.9% of the time at Double A, a number that could increase as he faces tougher competition.

While he hasn’t shown that much power potential, with the 20 he hit last season being his career high, the 24-year old still has some time left to continue to mature and gain strength.  It wouldn’t appear likely that he becomes a 30 HR hitter.   A player who can hit 20-25 HR with an average around .290 seems like a good bet, if he were to get full-time AB at the major league level.

Clark Spencer of the Miami Herald profiles Marlins closer Matt Lindstrom.  Here are some excerpts from the article entitled “Armed and Dangerous”:

• He walked on at the local junior college, which was then known as Ricks College. The most famous athlete to come out of Ricks was Rulon Gardner, who won gold at the 2000 Olympics in Greco-Roman wrestling, super-heavyweight class.  But Lindstrom didn’t receive a scholarship his freshman year because he wasn’t good enough.

• (On his Mormon mission to Sweden) ”I took two gloves and a ball over there, but I only used them twice,” Lindstrom said. “Once I played some catch on a soccer field. The other time I worked out with the Swedish baseball team. They were terrible. I was hitting balls over the fence. I was kind of putting on a show.”

• (On the end of the 2008 season) Lindstrom responded by converting all five of his save opportunities, including the season finale, when the Marlins defeated the Mets in the last game played at Shea Stadium and kept New York out of the playoffs.

It was especially satisfying for Lindstrom, who said he was so excited that he probably overdid it warming up in the bullpen.

”I learned an important lesson,” Lindstrom said. “There were about 50 police officers in the bullpen while I was warming up, I guess to keep people from ripping seats out of Shea, and I was showing off in front of them. I basically burned out all my fastballs before I even got into the game.”

But Lindstrom had enough left to record the final three outs.

”It was pretty emotional because it’s the last game and you’ve also defeated your former team, perhaps showing them they might have made a mistake by trading me,” said Lindstrom, who goes down as throwing the last pitch at Shea.

Protected lists have been submitted, and we’re locked in for the 2009 WBRL Draft.  Here’s who we’re bringing:

• C – Chris Iannetta  (2 / $1)
• 2B – Brandon Phillips  (1 / $16)
• SS – Ryan Theriot  (1 /$1)
• 3B – Chipper Jones  (1 / $23)
• MI – Blake DeWitt  (2 / $5)
• OF – Chase Headley  (2 / $5)
• OF – Jody Gerut  (2 / $5)
• P – Tim Lincecum (1 / $7)
• P – Josh Johnson (2 / $5)
• P – Todd Wellemeyer (2 / $5)
• P – Matt Lindstrom (2 / $10)
• P – Brian Wilson (1 / $10)
• P – Mike Gonzalez (2 / $5)
• 3B – Mat Gamel (3 /$5) (Minors)

Here are the figures:

• Players Protected: 14
• Payroll: $98
• Players Needed: 11
• Available: $162
• Available per Player: $14.73

Also note that the Atomic Roadrunners will have the final selection in the 2nd Round of the Minor League Draft (the 11th pick overall)